Somehow Netflix decided to recommend the British comedy Detectorists featuring Mackenzie Crook (Gareth on The Office and also known for Game of Thrones and Pirates of the Caribbean) and prolific character actor Toby Jones as metal detecting enthusiasts looking for a Saxon ship burial in northern Essex, England.
Wow, but do I love this show and what I like about it is the realistic interactions and conversations of friends. The dialogue is smart and funny, without ever being sitcommy. They’re realistic conversations and it doesn’t require one or more of them to be unrealistically stupid or easily avoided misunderstandings.
I have a couple of favorite scenes:
One in which Andy (Mackenzie Crook) is about to hear a song composed by his friend Lance (Toby Jones) and he’s sure it’s going to be terrible.
Another one is one in which vegetarian Andy is surprised by the ingredients of a common snack food.
Agree, it is wonderful. Worth mentioning that it is written by Crook as well.
The second series has just finished showing on the BBC here so you’ve got that to look forward to.
I’ll give no spoilers but it feels like that could be it, no more. (which is a stance I’d agree with, much as I love it)
After the first series, I was rather of the view that it had been so perfect that the second series was bound to be a mistake. But I was proved wrong. So I would hesitate to say that a third series couldn’t work. The latest twist does open up a number of new comic possibilities. The Christmas special is just about the only thing over Christmas that I’m actually looking forward to watching.
I also think that the BBC misjudged it. They seem to have assumed that what they had was something that it would be a cult success, much loved by a relatively small but loyal audience. But it has turned out to too popular to count as that.
It also has daughter of Emma Peel, who spookily looks like her mother. Plus her mother, albeit in a little cameo.
[spoiler]It is interesting the seed has been sown for more; Andy’s wife (Beth?) did identify the (high ground) site of the burial/long barrow, and we saw them walking across the geo-phys outline
I can’t get over them using a photo of the proper Simon and Garfunkel to ID Peters and Lee … [/spoiler]
Just recently discovered this myself (I’m halfway through S2 now). It’s amazing, and exactly for the reasons the OP describes. Realistic, with almost nothing contrived. It’s like he took genuine conversations and tweaked them a tiny amount to make them funnier. Excellent casting, too.
It’s even inspired me to write my own sitcom, something I’d had at the back of my mind for years.
I think the other thing that makes it feel real is the random, halting nature of Lance and Andy’s conversations such as long pauses and stillness (Mackenzie is very, very good at doing “stillness”) exposition and explanation where you weren’t needing it (but the character genuinely would) and vice versa. The fact that Crook felt he could leave a lot unspoken tells me that he is a particularly good writer.
such as when Sheila talked about loss and hinted fleetingly at something much deeper in the last episode of S2
And Toby Jones is an acting god as well, that always helps.
and Yay! a Christmas Special? I didn’t know that there was going to be one.
Good news! A third season begins on BBC4 on November 8th!
Probably the last, as this one took so long to be made due to Mackenzie not being inspired by ideas immediately. But who knows, it could go for as long as he wants.
Netflix recommended this series to me also. I tried watching it but couldn’t get into it. But now after reading all of these posts, I’m going to give it another shot. Sometimes it’s just the mood you’re in at the time. I loved the British The Office (of course the American too) and many other British movies and shows. I will admit that I sometimes have to turn on closed captioning so I don’t miss anything.
Awesome! We watched it earlier this year, and loved it. I can see people taking some time to get into it - it is slow by American standards. But a wonderful show.